Fire Emblem Echoes Will Have 8-4 Involved In Its Localization

Thursday, March 16th, 2017

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While not announced ceremoniously, when asked on twitter if 8-4 would be involved in the localization of the latest entry in the Fire Emblem franchise, Fire Emblem Echoes, co-founder John Ricciardi‏ confirmed yes. While Fire Emblem Fates met with both great reception and sales, its localization however was met with mixed to a very negative reception due to heavy handed script re-writing, changing some of the characterizations and outright censorship that had some elements removed entirely.

While Fire Emblem Awakening, the title prior to Fire Emblem Fates which was localized by 8-4 had its localization, outside of some criticism of some of changes in the character convos, met with a mostly positive reception. So this revelation may come as some great news to many Fire Emblem fans. Please share your thoughts below in the comment section.

Fire Emblem Echoes is a Nintendo 3DS exclusive and will arrive in the West on May 19 of this year.

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8-4 certainly doesn’t guarantee it being censor free, or a few “liberties” taken with the dialogue if the past is anything to go by.
This having less risque content gives it a far bigger chance at avoiding the censorship axe than the choice of localization company, though Treehouse not touching it is a bit of a relief.

VanFinale

The few “liberties” taken with Awakening is much more tolerable then what happened to Fates’ script which read like it was written by a group of 14 year old girls who were really into fan-fiction. Echoes probably still won’t be getting my money though at least the NA/EU version. IF the game has anything risque in it NOA will still make 8-4 censor the thing though I doubt 8-4 would not put up a fight about it.

darkgamer001

Referring to the dialogue in Xenoblade X too, also handled by 8-4.
I don’t even want to know the full details, or I fear I won’t be able to really enjoy the game anymore. I do know some religious elements got toned down though.
But yeah, dialogue wise at least, anything is tame compared to the devastation that Treehouse can bring about.

No_Good_Names_Ever

Most of what 8-4 changed wasn’t risque.

VanFinale

I don’t know what happened to Fates in terms of the actual writing why was it so abysmal? I mean Zelda BotW was done by Treehouse as well and the writing ranges from fine to good, no groaners even come to mind so far. Even that new Paper Mario game that was garbage mechanically seemed to have a decent script. Did they just give Fates to some asshats were they fired or disciplined. Censorship wise Echoes will probably still be censored if it has any of the things NOA doesn’t like.

Bryan

Tree house wouldn’t dare censor zelda, not like there was anything to censor anyway

VanFinale

Their are some jokes and such that are sexual in nature that either NOA themselves wrote or translated properly, plus the Great Fairy stuff and the Gerudo’s outfits are about as sexual as some of the stuff the outfits that got altered in Tokyo Mirage Sessions. However yes you’re right that NOA treats Zelda and Mario with a lot more respect than other games.

Bryan

Those jokes in Zelda and that cleavage was nothing really. And no way would Tree House touch Zelda which is a first party game from Nintendo. They don’t mind fking other games though like any fire emblem game or Tokyo Mirage

Well, then. This doesn’t bode well for fans of the series who don’t like censorship.

That being said I haven’t heard anything bad about Nier Automata’s localisation yet, so there is hope I guess.

VanFinale

Censorship is going to happen with every Nintendo game regardless of who is localizing it. It’s why Tokyo Mirage Sessions was so heavily censored despite being done by Atlus who has a pretty good track record with not censoring stuff, though they aren’t flawless. Until NOA themselves decide to stop censoring stuff it’s going to keep happening. Zelda gave me some hope at least they’ve got some sexual jokes in the script and there is an entire race in the game that wear clothes similar to what was changed in Tokyo Mirage Sessions. Not to mention the Great Fairies sexually harassing link whenever he visits.

Mr0303

Maybe Nintendo will start to realise that their audience is mostly adults, but I’m a bit sceptical to say the least. We’ll see how they handle more controversial titles.

VanFinale

Yeah I would love to not have to be extremely wary of every Nintendo release. Talking about their audience though I find it kind of weird that I can’t recall any switch advertisements that have children in them.

Mr0303

Maybe they’ve learned their lesson, but we’ll see how the first year of Switch will go. So far there aren’t any overly violent or sexual games on it.

VGJunky

I also had hope after they let Bayonetta 2 do whatever they wanted and even encouraged it but then they trashed everything after for the next 3 years

Not exactly the ideal situation but at least its not the Treehouse Tumblrettes doing it this time.

Panpopo

I enjoyed Awakening, Nier (which was specifically changed for Western audiences for Papa Nier – no outrage then, go figure), and am currently enjoying Nier Automata. I think this bodes well for this new game.